Fedoruk clan often found rolling around country

Originally published: August 9, 2011

SMALL

MEDIUM

LARGE

Trailer queens, garage maidens, seldom-or never-driven classics, frozen-in-time cars . this is not for the Fedoruk family of Chilliwack, B.C. They use their old cars. Really use them.

For Lorne and Janice Fedoruk, getting in their customized 1948 Cadillac sedanette and rolling a couple of thousand kilometres is routine. They average 7,000 km a year in the car they purchased in 2006.

they purchased in 2006. Lorne’s brother, Larry Fedoruk, is often alongside in his 1951 Henry J hotrod. “We travel together,” he says. “It keeps us tight.”

“It keeps us tight.” Son Mark joins the family tours in his 1937 Ford street rod: Pleasanton, Calif., Fort Collins, Colo., Spokane – there are car shows and meets all over North America, and the Fedoruk family is always rolling.

Mark Fedoruk has been into cars since before he could walk. Lorne and Janice took their young son to car shows while he was in his stroller. He celebrated his graduation by driving his parents’ customized bright yellow 1929 Ford Model A sedan to California with a buddy.

He bought his first fixer-upper at the age of 18 – a 1937 Ford “humpback” two-door sedan. “The body had 51 bullet holes in it, and it took five years to build,” Mark says.

The 26-year-old has driven his car over 22,000 km in the two years since he finished it. He and his girlfriend, Stacey Trimble, travel with the family all the time. “Every sunny day, we take out the toy and head somewhere,” he says.

His car was built and painted by Maple Ridge custom car builder Tim Kennedy.

Kennedy. Kennedy also built the Fedoruk’s rare 1948 Cadillac fastback into a world-class custom cruiser. The car has a colourful history. Purchased in Langley, B.C., the car’s former owner said he acquired it in North Dakota 30 years before with a story that it had been involved in a getaway shootout. There was a bullet hole inches above the windshield on the driver’s side.

“I had been to the giant street rod show in Pleasanton, Calif., and saw a car like that customized by Tom Rodriguez. It was chopped, dropped and painted candy-coat emerald green,” Kennedy says.

“I just fell in love with it and jumped at the opportunity to do my own custom with a car like that.”

tom with a car like that.” Kennedy also chopped the top on the 1948 Cadillac three inches and removed the rear door pillar, giving the car a clean hard-top convertible look. He re-did all the chrome on the body and added full custom fender skirts. The car has an air-ride lowering system.

The heavy Cadillac is powered by a Chevrolet V-8 engine coupled to a three-speed automatic transmission.